Who Is Our Enemy?

AM Psalm [83] or 34 • PM Psalm 85, 86
2 Kings 9:1-16 • 1 Cor. 6:12-20 • Matt. 6:1-6,16-18

When the psalmists feel afflicted by enemies, they call upon the Lord for help, as in Psalm 83 for today:

“As fire consumes the forest,
as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
so do you pursue [our enemies] with your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane!
Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Lord.
Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever;
let them perish in disgrace.
Let them know that you alone,
whose name is the Lord,
are the most high over all the earth.”

But the wild fires and hurricanes the psalmist begs God to blast his enemies with are two of the very afflictions we people of the world have been suffering from during the past month, along with floods, droughts, earthquakes, wars, tyranny, and plague, plus other outbreaks of “man’s inhumanity to man.” They're all man-made or at least made worse, longer lasting, and deadlier by the willful behavior of us people. We are our own afflictors. Oh Lord, put us to shame and dismay us, but not forever, let us acknowledge our disgrace, but not perish in it. Help us to remember that you alone are Lord and most high over all this poor world that we have abused, so that, in the words of Psalm 85,

“Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet.
Righteousness and Peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.”

Written by John Tabb DuVal

John joins his voice with that of the Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew of the Orthodox Church, and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin, pleading with world leaders at the upcoming November Climate Summit to “listen to the cry of the Earth.”